3 more reasons why the Buffalo Sabres won the Eichel trade
The Buffalo Sabres beat Jack Eichel and his Vegas Golden Knights on March 10th. Then, Eichel committed the sin of heckling an entire fan base.
There are a few groups of people you don’t badger with, and fans of the Buffalo Sabres are among those groups of people. Sabres fans are loyal, witty, and while they forgive, they don’t forget. And although the Eichel trade is just eight months old, Sabres fans have a few more things to point at when it comes to who won this trade.
Now, before we list three more reasons why the Buffalo Sabres are the outright victors, let’s recognize Eichel’s personal success in Vegas. In just 34 games with the Knights, he did log 25 points, 14 goals, and 11 assists.
So from a production standpoint, Eichel is as good as ever. But, it does not mean his presence is a good thing for the Golden Knights. In fact, it may ultimately end with the team becoming one of the worst in the Western Conference. Let’s discuss.
More reasons the Buffalo Sabres won the Jack Eichel trade: Reason #1 – Financial constraints v. financial stability
At the time of this writing, SpotTrac shows that the Golden Knights are currently $1,394, 643 over the cap. Only the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals are in more cap trouble. Eichel also carries a cap hit at $10 million in a contract that runs through 2025-26, giving the Knights little room to work with.
By contrast, the Buffalo Sabres are currently third in cap space with $19,604,166. General manager Kevyn Adams may very well add another puzzle piece to the team, likely via a trade. But the general consensus is that he will use the money to extend budding stars on the team sometime during the upcoming season. It’s more of a when, not if.
Right now, dumping Eichel’s contract onto another team was a brilliant move. And while these results can certainly change, the trade left the Sabres with immense cap space while the Knights are struggling to make ends meet.
And as you saw from the info above, the Knights still need to make a move or two if they plan on starting the season under the cap. Which leads me to my next bit of reasoning.
Dismantling of a once-great Stanley Cup contender v. building a potential contender
Yeah, you heard that right. The Golden Knights, thanks to the Eichel trade, can potentially end up playing like the expansion team they were supposed to play like back in 2017-18. And after missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, they already took the first step.
Just last week, you now know the Knights traded away forward Max Pacioretty and defenseman Dylan Cophlan to the Carolina Hurricanes for future considerations. Pacioretty developed into a star player in Vegas while Coghlan is fast-emerging. So Carolina’s gain is definitely Vegas’ loss.
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres have been busy building a young core. And thanks to the Eichel trade, they added Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, and Noah Ostlund to that core. They also have Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson, Matthew Savoie, Jiri Kulich, Owen Power, Rasmus Dahlin, Jack Quinn, and J.J. Peterka, to name a few. All of whom are either on the main roster or are high-end prospects.
While it is not logical that the Sabres will keep everyone, this is besides the point. What I’m saying is, one team is adding and is continuing to add. The other is subtracting, in large part, thanks to Eichel’s giant contract.
Inevitable rebuild around Eichel v. building around potential cornerstones
The Golden Knights impressed NHL universe time and again, and everyone wondered when this team would face an inevitable rebuild and miss the playoffs. Right now, they are most likely heading for that rebuild, despite their #7 ranking in late June from ESPN.
They did sign forward Reilly Smith to an extension. But other than that, the Knights have looked null. Other notable signings include Jonas Rondbjerg, Brett Howden, Michael Hutchinson, and Byron Froese. Of the aforementioned players, Howden may be the best, which isn’t saying much.
The Buffalo Sabres, thanks to shipping out the likes of Eichel, Sam Reinhart, and Rasmus Ristolainen in three respective trades are allowing themselves to build around cornerstones like Dahlin. They also don’t need to spend a crazy amount of money either to bring in productive, yet cost-effective talent like Ilya Lyubushkin or Eric Comrie.
And as mentioned in the previous slide, the Sabres will also likely use their cap space to retain existing players instead of going out of their way to pull off blockbuster trade. No, it is not splashy, but the Sabres long view in building the core from scratch may really begin to pay off when they re-sign productive players who want to be in Buffalo.
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Eichel was not that player. He wanted out, and now, it looks as though the desire to leave will cost him. Unless the Knights think of something fast, it will be another long season in Vegas while the Sabres continue to inch their way toward playoff contention.